Gerry, Maria, Pauline,
SMart Network community group
Acrylic paint on paper
SMart Network is a charity helping homeless and socially marginalised people to rebuild their lives through art projects. They have been working closely with The Courtauld for 25 years.
Between May and June 2025, SMart artists visited the Goya to Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. They spent time closely observing Vincent van Gogh’s The Ward in the Hospital at Arles, and The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles, both completed in the months following his Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889).
In a subsequent workshop, the group sat and sketched together in front of the self-portrait, discussing Van Gogh’s use of colour, texture and creativity in the face of challenging times. Returning to the studio within our Leon Kossoff Learning Centre, each artist took the
theme in their own direction, making zines, stitching and experimenting with Van Gogh’s colour palette to produce self-portraits that seek to express their own
sense of self.
